“I have found this area to be a dynamic and exciting place to live as an artist. In effect, it has been a rebirth for me and my work,” Southport artist Jan Boland says.

She joins two other seasoned artists, potter Joyce Grazetti and painter Katrina Fairbank, as featured artists in the new Members Show at Franklin Square Gallery this month. The show launched Aug. 25 runs until Oct. 3.

“Indulgence” brings to mind a pampered day at the spa or a dessert concoction sporting acres of chocolate with the fat grams and calories to match, but there’s a different kind of indulgence you can enjoy every evening when the sun sets that doesn’t involve mud facials or “death by chocolate”—landscape lighting.

People often ask: “What is that yellow butterfly that is flying around everywhere right now?” From my observations, I would say we are beginning to see the first wave of sulphurs visiting our landscapes.

The Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) is a small to midsized butterfly in the family Pieridae found in the Americas. There are several similar species some with angled wings or other sulphurs, which are much smaller. They have a wide range, from South America to Canada, and are most common from Argentina up to southern Florida and Texas.

Southeastern native plants are ablaze with color in the fall. Colorful berries appear to delight the human eye and provide food for hungry birds. The leaves turn orange, red or gold as the weather turns cooler creating beauty throughout the wooded areas and hopefully in your own back yard.

Less than 400 yards from where the body of Valerie Burns was found in her burning car lived the man detectives have charged with her murder.

Sheriff’s detectives arrested Carl Henry Alston, 35, on Thursday, and charged him with murder. While in custody at the Brunswick County Detention Center under no bond Friday, detectives charged Alston with first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping.

Residents who wish to voice concerns about the county’s mandatory connection ordinance or availability fees have until the commissioners Sept. 15 meeting to do so.

After discussing the county’s mandatory connection ordinance, commissioners voted to table the issue until their next meeting.

“If one is connected to the water system, it does not affect those people,” county attorney Huey Marshall explained. “These are for the people who have not connected to the system, but there is a water line addressing that property.”

Less than a month after two people were killed in a wreck in front of Brunswick Community Hospital, another person has died there.

Just after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, emergency personnel were alerted to a motorcycle wreck at the intersection of Ocean Highway West and Medical Center Drive.

According to N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Matthew Strangman, a van driven by Kim Wilkins, 45, of Leland, was headed south on U.S. 17. Wilkins reportedly crossed over the intersection to turn into the hospital’s drive when she failed to yield to an oncoming motorcycle.